Hudson, Clinton wrestling teams take on state tournament

KALAMAZOO — Top-ranked Hudson began its journey to a third-straight Division 4 team wrestling state title and 11th overall Friday with a dominating, 72-3, win against No. 8 Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary.

The Tigers began the dual with a tough test at 190 pounds where Barron Mansfield lost to the Cardinals' top wrestler, Ethan Wakefield, 8-1.

"They started their best kid and we got a kid who's pretty good at 190," coach Scott Marry said. "We started a newbie, who is a junior, but he wasn't in the lineup much last year and you always want to test fresh water. He battled."

It was all Hudson the rest of the way as the Tigers each of the next 13 matches, including 11 pins.

The first pin came right after 190 at 215 with sophomore Kenny Sledge stepping up.

"I think that was pretty cool," Marry said. "I wanted to see how that worked out."

Also picking up pins for the Tigers were Cameron Miller (285), Chase Clark (113), Colt Perry (120), Nicholas Sorrow (126), Owen Loop (132), Cole Marry (138), Coy Perry (144), Austin Marry (150), Jacob Pickford (157) and Logan Ryan (175). Trey Bolenbaugh (106) won a 9-2 decision and Devan Brigman (165) won a 4-3 decision.

Bolenbaugh and Brigman, along with Sledge, were not regional qualifiers, let alone state qualifiers, so their season will end this weekend.

"We're not just building for this weekend," coach Marry said. "We're building for next year. That was a good thing that happened at 190 and 215 because it showed me what these guys will be able to do next year."

On the other mats, No. 2 St. Louis beat last season's state runners-up, No. 9 Climax Scotts-Martin, 39-26, while No. 3 Benzie Central defeated No. 6 Iron Mountain, 59-13.

The Tigers will see a more familiar foe in the semifinal in No. 5 Manchester after the Flying Dutchmen defeated No. 4 Bronson in the quarterfinal, 30-22.

"They are a program a lot like us," coach Marry said.

Division 3

If you asked Clinton coach Casey Randolph what weight class he'd hope to start at, 126 would probably be one of the top choices.

That's what the third-ranked Redwolves drew in the quarterfinal Friday against No. 6 Yale and they used the momentum to win, 34-27, to advance to the semifinal.

"We had the opportunity to get momentum," he said. "The kid that wrestled Braylon Long at 126 wrestled him as a freshman and beat him, so that wasn't a gimmie."

Randolph was right, it wasn't a gimmie. But Long gutted out a 2-0 win to get the ball rolling. Connor Younts (132) followed with 13-6 decision, Maurice Ames (138) followed with an 11-3 major decision before Dylan Badge (144) stepped up with a huge 5-4 decision to give Clinton 13-0 lead out of the gate.

The Bulldogs stole some momentum at 150 with a pin, but Cliff Jones battled to a sudden victory win at 157 followed by another big swing match win for John Keibler (165), 9-5, and then Bryce Randolph (165) won a ranked battle, 5-3, to give Clinton a 22-6 advantage.

"For (Keibler) to go out and win that match for us was unbelievable," coach Randolph said. "Dylan Badge's match was really big and we got the flip so we could bump Bryce up to face their really good kid. A lot was on our side tonight."

Yale got another pin at 190 to make it a 22-12 match, but the heavyweights to control back for good with Wyatt Hicks (215) and Hamza Rafferty (285) getting pinfalls to make it 34-12 and seal the win.

"After last year going the way it did, this was really gratifying," coach Randolph said. "That was a good team that matches up with us pretty darn well."

The Redwolves will have another well matched opponent in the semifinal as they'll face No. 2 Whitehall.

The two teams faced each other earlier in the season with the Vikings squeaking out a one-point win. Whitehall defeated No. 7 Gladstone, 52-18.

"We're pretty excited about that matchup," coach Randolph said. "They're better, but so are we and we're excited for the opportunity."

On the other end of the bracket, No. 1 Dundee defeated No. 8 Lake Odessa Lakewood, 58-18, while Constantine survived a late surge from Hart to win, 32-30.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Hudson, Clinton take on MHSAA team wrestling state tournament